Always one to jump on a trend, independent producer Roger Corman committed over $2 million dollars (which is the budget of Titanic for Corman) to this Star Wars clone. But just as the Corman produced/John Sayles written Piranha both copied and spoofed Jaws, Battle Beyond the Stars both emulates and skewers Star Wars simultaneously.

The story, lifted from Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai and its own remake The Magnificent Seven, features the peaceful planet of Akir being terrorized by the evil Sador (John Saxon, sporting a red scar that would make Mikhail Gorbachev green with envy). The Akir send young Shad (the moled one, Richard Thomas) on a mission into space to find mercenaries to protect them.

Shad manages to round up a horny space scientist (Darlanne Fluegel), a warrior bimbo (Sybil Danning, about to fall out of her costume), a space cowboy (George Peppard), a lizard-man (Morgan Woodward), a group of consciousness connected aliens named Nestor and a vicious hitman-for-hire (Robert Vaughn, playing the same part he did in The Magnificent Seven), each with their own reason for aiding the threatened planet.

Played with a straight face, Battle Beyond the Stars would have drifted into obscurity alongside the many awful space epics that followed the 70s sci-fi explosion. But future independent maverick John Sayles fills the script with lighthearted humor which, combined with an A-list of B-movie stars, make the film a cult classic that will live forever on video and late night cable.

In one of his better roles, Thomas plays straight-lace Shad to perfection, delivering his lines with just the right amount of Leslie Nielsen deadpan and John Boy naivete. However, the biggest treat is George Peppard in what is essentially the movies version of Hans Solo, capturing the same smug, worry-free cool he would perfect on the A-Team.

As with most low-budget movies, the acting is uneven. Apparently no one told Robert Vaughn that Battle Beyond the Stars is supposed to be fun. He seems to think he’s in a production of Hamlet. Danning is even more wooden (and voluptuous) than usual, while Saxon proves to be merely an adequate villain, though he does have the extended, diabolical laugh down to perfection.

For its budget (and for being a Corman movie) the effects are surprisingly good, with realistic models and creative make-up (though the space explosions do look like cheap fireworks.) You know if Roger Corman spends two million dollars on a movie he’s going to get his money’s worth, as the music and special effects from Battle Beyond the Stars were re-cycled countless times for other Corman cheapies such as Space Raiders. Of course it wouldn’t be a Corman movie without a little T&A. But how do you get nudity into a PG-rated space adventure? Easy, throw some knockers on one of the space ships. Now that is creative.

While Corman is highly regarded for his work as an independent director and producer, his greatest contribution may be the opportunities he’s afforded to fledgling talent. Battle Beyond the Stars is another in a long line of Corman films from which successful careers sprang forth.

Though Darlanne Fleugel didn’t show much of an aptitude in this her first role, she went on to appear in Running Scared, Lock-Up and To Live and Die in LA. Sayles penned several Corman-produced screenplays before re-defining independent cinema in the 1980s. Composer James Horner scored Titanic, Apollo 13 and Braveheart. Assistant production manager Gale Anne Hurd produced the first two Terminators, Aliens and Armageddon. Art director and effects technician James Cameron did time on a few more Corman productions, including directing duties for Pirahna II: The Spawning, before making many of the genres best films and one truly awful Oscar speech.